Lessons in Intercultural Communication

By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter

When it comes to communicating across different cultures, understanding the language may be just the beginning.

A leading intercultural communications expert said that the ability to ``read between the lines" and understanding non-spoken expressions in various cultural contexts is also an important part of communication, one that's often overlooked when studying foreign languages.

According to Park Myung-seok, professor emeritus at Dankook University, the English-education curriculum in Korean schools does not reflect this fact nearly enough. Park has written several books on the topic of intercultural communications. Most recently he co-edited a book, titled ``Communicating Nonverbally: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication."

Professor Park told The Korea Times that ``successful communication between people across cultures requires not only an understanding of language but also of the nonverbal aspects of communication that are part of any speech community."

Citing research data from the late American anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell, Park observed that in ordinary two-person, face-to-face conversation, verbal components carry only about 35 percent of the social meaning of the situation. Nonverbal communications, on the other hand, make up more than 65 percent of the conversation, he said.

And in a cross-cultural situation, Park added, ``When people are not from the same speech community, nonverbal cues will be even more heavily depended on."

The professor said that the importance of non-spoken communications has not always been appreciated in the past.

``Before the 1960s-1970s," Park said, `it was popularly thought that if only all people spoke the same language we would have no misunderstanding across cultures."

He noted, ``obviously, problems are not that simple: language and language behaviors, dictionaries can be helpful within limits, but we have no dictionaries for nonverbal behavior, values, or culturally different patterns of reasoning."

Park Myung-seok, professor emeritus at Dankook University, is a leading expert in intercultural communications.

Overcoming Cultural Barriers

``Language erects as many barriers as bridges," Park said. ``Barriers with cultural overtones and implications are much more difficult to overcome than linguistic barriers, although it is hard to draw a sharp line between linguistic and cultural elements."

He pointed to an expression, ``A rolling stone gathers no moss" to illustrate his point.

``This is so full of cultural overtones and implications that Koreans and Americans interpret it quite differently," Park said. ``Americans view `a rolling stone' as a lively and active individual not bogged down by conventions. To Koreans, however, 'a rolling stone' is a kind of loose cannon who is unable or unwilling to accept the conventions necessary for social harmony. Thus the sentence could be used as an encouragement to move on in one culture," he said. But in Korea, he added, it can be used as ``a warning to settle down."

Park observed that differences in cultural values represent a stumbling block. One basis for this clash of values comes from how each society views old age and their elders, according to the professor.

``Too often, nonverbal behavior patterns cause misunderstanding and embarrassment, and a gap between cultures often shocks us," Professor Park also said. Once in the United States, he recalled, ``Just before my departure for the mainland after my stay at the University of Hawaii, my academic advisor came to Honolulu Airport.

``She waved her hand vertically, palm outward. She meant `goodbye.' But I took it as a signal `to come here,' and so I hurried over to her to her embarrassment."

Korea's Outdated English Curriculum

Professor Park also shared his critical assessment of the English-language curriculum in Korean public schools, describing the classes as ``outdated" and teachers as ``incompetent."

``The whole country is now hectic with calls for drastic changes in English education," he said.

``In spite of all our efforts to teach English, Korean students still do not manage to learn how to communicate in English. The teaching of English is still foundering in outdated methodology; that is, the grammar-translation method," Park said.

``The high school and university entrance examination, with an emphasis on reading comprehension rather than oral proficiency, and the incompetence of Korean English teachers combine to sustain the grammar-translation."

According to the professor, most other countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, India, and European countries have now adopted a ``communicative teaching methodology" and applied ``intercultural communication ideas" to their English language teaching.

``Even in these days of globalization," he went on, ``the goal of language study here in Korea is just to gain reading comprehension or to benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that result from language study.''

English Institutions: Recession-Proof Industry

These days the insistence on English ability as a pre-requisite to higher education has spawned a multi-million dollar language institute system, the professor also observed. This system, he noted, ``provides a fine income for those involved in it, but only acquaints students with answers to arcane but often-asked questions found on TOEFL, TOEIC or university entrance exams and places an obscene financial burden on all but the wealthiest families."

The goal of language instruction in Korea is still to ``know everything about a language rather than how to use it inter-culturally for practical communication."

``A grammar-based study does not facilitate the development of communicative skills. On the contrary, it tends to hamper it," Park argued. ``Hence, Korean workers and businessmen are unable to interact successfully and inter-culturally with foreigners in the world's most widely used language, even though they were taught English for six years in middle and high schools, and for at least two or four years in college or university."

Park also noted that trying to understand idiomatic expressions in the English language could be a major challenge.

``Native English speakers use more idiomatic expressions than they realize," he explained. ``But to Koreans, one of the most irritating and frustrating aspects of the English language is the formation of special expressions or idioms."

Koreans studying the English language often discover that there are ``hundreds of word combinations whose meaning bears little or no relationship to the individual words from which they are composed, he said.

``What a hard time I had during my stay in the United States trying to understand such expressions as `talk shop,' meaning discussing business matters, `call off,' which means `cancel,' and `pull someone's leg' meaning teasing or fooling someone."

michaelha@koreatimes.co.kr

Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn
Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn